The National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, as the agency mandated to champion in the field of fisheries research, has been given various tasks, one of which is to “provide a venue for intensive training and development of human resources in the field of fisheries, a repository of all fisheries research and scientific information” (Sec. 85, RA 8550).

To ensure and realize that fisheries research and scientific information acquired and created by the institute and other affiliated agencies and organizations are collected, organized, accessible and preserved, the Library Unit has been established in the year 2021. Being a unit managed by a one-man librarian, under the supervision of the Information, Management and Technology Section of the Planning Policy and Information Division, it is primarily tasked to organize both a physical and e-library, which will complement the mandate of the institute, as well as cater to the information needs of its stakeholders, both internal, external and affiliated agencies.

In 2022, the Library Unit started building its collection from the donations and outputs of its researchers and other agri-fisheries industries. As with any library, organization of its collection is essential to ensure discoverability and retrievability by its intended and prospective users. With this, a metadata management librarian was hired to commence the standardized organization of the collection in compliance with existing professional standards such as Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC21), Resource Description and Access (RDA), Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Classification (LCC) among others. Moreover, implementation and continuous development of relevant information systems i.e. the Integrated Library System and the Digital Repository. The information systems shall serve as the management platform for bibliographic records and delivery of relevant information services ensuring access to full-text digitized and born-digital information resources of the Institute.

In 2023

• Collection Management: Building and organizing the library's collection to ensure it meets the needs of users.
• Capacity Building: Enhancing the skills and capabilities of library staff and users.
• Digitization of resources: Converting physical resources to digital formats for better accessibility.